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National Guard to Help at Border

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San Diego Union Tribune -- Dressed in camouflage and carrying sidearms, about 250 California National Guard personnel will provide a show of force to prospective drug runners and illegal migrants when the troops deploy to San Diego and Imperial counties, starting in mid-August.

As part of a get-tough-at-the-border move by the Obama administration, the Guard will be activated for a year to assist the U.S. Border Patrol and will be stationed around the region, from Camp Pendleton to the Tijuana border to the Imperial Valley.

“This is meant to be a visible deterrent,” spokeswoman Maj. Kimberly Holman said Tuesday.

The White House first announced in May that 1,200 troops would be sent to Southwest states to crack down on smuggling and drug cartel violence.

Critics have called it political posturing by President Barack Obama in the run-up to November congressional elections and after Arizonans showed frustration with federal policy by empowering local police to check immigration status. (Full Story)